Organic Pest Control With Ladybugs and a Rose Mystery

This year, my roses seem to be growing not just gorgeous blossoms, but a bumper crop of aphids as well. Due to our proximity to the Chesapeake Bay, and my newfound aversion to all things chemical (except in cases of last resort), I explored the option of using organic pest control to take care of my aphid problem. Now, I know that growing roses is probably not organic, or sustainable or whatever, but I really enjoy them- working with them and watching them thrive, watching the buds open, the different fragrances of the different varieties, and of course, the cut flowers to bring in the house and share with my friends. I have a big rose garden in the front yard, which even contains two roses that we inherited with the house and moved to a better location. So, anyway, back to the ladybugs. I ordered 4800 ladybugs (that was way overkill for my yard, but I shared with my neighbors) from Gardening Zone. The price was right (about $12.00 for the ladybugs) but the shipping notification system from this company was abysmal. Also, although I paid for expedited shipping (the only option with live insects), the poor guys didn't show up for over a week after I ordered them. I think that I may choose a different site for subsequent orders. It wasn't all bad, though, because I did get the ladybugs, and the majority of them appeared to survive their journey unscathed.

The ladybugs arrived in a small cloth bag on May 19 (post is a little late, sorry), shown below. It was kind of freaky, how many ladybugs they had managed to cram into that little bag. This is only the tip of the iceberg!





Here is Aaron, dealing with spreading the ladybugs (there were just so many... it kind of freaked me out)





Here are some of the ladybugs on May 20th, doing their thing on my Shasta daisies.





And here are some roses that I cut last week from my Mr. Lincoln rose, which was pretty badly invaded.





The aphids are much diminished now, but not totally exterminated as they were a few weeks ago. I don't know where most of the ladybugs moved on to though- I have only seen the occasional one in the garden. I am considering ordering another batch, as well as some beneficial nematodes to control the Japanese beetles that I expect to show up next month. Does anyone have experience with the Nematodes? I'd love to hear about it.

Finally, a few gratuituous shots of probably my favorite (it's between this one and the Bellaroma) rose in the whole garden. This thing was a half dead little stick when we moved into the house, and Aaron moved it into the rose garden for me, where it has THRIVED! There were COUNTLESS blossoms on it during its last blooming cycle, which went early May to around Memorial Day. It wil continue to bloom in gorgeous spurts throughout the summer. Does anyone know what it is? It also has a beautiful shape, a very lush, full bush. If you have any info, just comment below!